Women's Access to Microcredit and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Lapo Microfinance Bank, Ayingba. Kogi State

The study examined women's access to microcredit and poverty reduction: evidence from LAPO microfinance. The study used primary data collected with the aid of a questionnaire. It utilized a sample size of 275 through a simple random sampling technique. 275 copies of questionnaires were administered and distributed among women lenders and staff of LAPO Microfinance Bank. By chance, 235 copies of the questionnaire were completed and returned to the researcher. Hence, the data was analyzed based on these returned copies of questionnaires. The study used descriptive statistics of mean analysis, simple percentage and regression analysis to analyze the data, as well as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to test the hypotheses. Based on the results, it was revealed that the independent variables such as the rate of women's access to microcredit, interest on savings of women's microcredit and microcredit duration had negative effects on the poverty rate in Nigeria. Meanwhile, interest rate on women's microcredit, microcredit participation/registration fees and microcredit initial deposit had positive effect on poverty rate among women that have access to microcredit. The study concluded that women's access to microcredit is necessary for poverty reduction, as evidenced from LAPO Microfinance Bank, Anyigba. It was, therefore, recommended that the management of LAPO Microfinance Bank should promote women's access to microcredit towards poverty reduction through an increase in women's level of income, an increase in savings habit among women, increase in their standard of living. Additionally, it strengthens the financial capacity of women and addresses challenges such as; weak institution capacity, absence of a technology platform, weak capital base, and inability to recover loans in order to enhance women’s access to microcredit towards poverty reduction